Elastic fabric



W. J. FOX

ELASTIC FABRIC April 14, 1931.

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 15, 1929 INVENTOR W. J. FOX

ELASTIC FABRIC April 14, 1931.

Filed July 15, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Apr. 14, 1931 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFIOE 'WIIIIIIAIM J'- IEOX, 0F PHILADELPHIA,PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO JAMES R. KEN- DRIC'K 00., INCL, OFPHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION 01 PENN- SYLVANIA ELASTICFABRIC- Application filed July 15, 1929. Serial No. 878,448.

This invention relates to improvements in elastic fabrics of the kindemployed in the manufacture of corsets, brassieres, abdominal belts, armand leg bands and other articles for surgical and other uses.

Such fabrics, as generally stated, comprise longitudinally extendingelastic strands and knitted threads having connected loops which formenclosures through which the elastic strands extend.

In employing fabrics of this character in the manufacture of variousarticles it is desirable to have strips of the fabric shaped orfashioned to provide wide portions merging into narrower portionslongitudinally of the fabric.

In the usual method employed in the production of such shaped orfashioned strips, prior to my present invention, it has been necessaryto insert a greater number of laterally disposed elastic strands in thewide portions of the strips than in the narrow portions thereof and toform reverse or U-shaped bends in the elastic strands at various placesin the body portions of the strips to turn certain of the elasticstrands at certain places between the ends of the strips and cause themto extend in a reverse direction.

The shaped or fashioned strips of fabric produced under this old methodwere ob jectionable and unsightly in the regions there of where thereverse bends in the elastic strands occurred, and they were costly onaccount of the time required in the production thereof, owing to thenecessity of reversing the feeds of the elastic strands and the knittedthreads enclosing them at the places where the reverse bends occurred.

The object of my present invention is to provide a novel fabric whichmay be shaped or fashioned to provide one or more wide portions merginginto one or more narrower portions which will be free from theobjectionable reverse bends in the elastic strands and "which may bemanufactured on a straight knitting machine at less cost than fabricsheretofore generally employed for the same purpose.

I accomplish my object by providing the same number of elastic strandsin both the wide and narrow portions of the fabric by extending all theelastic strands continuously from end to end of the fabric and byknitting the knitted threads, which enclose the elastic strands,together in a novel manner to cause them to hold the elastic strands incloser relation to each other in the narrow portion or portions of thefabric than in the wide portion or portions thereof and to cause them tomaintain the elastic strands in greater spaced relation in the wideportion or portions of the fabric than in the narrow portion or portionsthereof.

The invention resides in the novel location and arrangement of the loopsof the knitted threads in combination with the elastic strands ashereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating my invention,

Figure 1 is a view showing the outline of a piece of fabric produced inaccordance with my invention and showing diagrammatically the elasticstrands extending continuously through the wide and narrow portions ofthe fabric from end to end thereof and showing by dot-and-dash lines theoutline of a certain region in the fabric wherein the knitted threads ofthe fabric have characteristics different from the characteristics ofthe knitted threads of other regions of the fabric.

Figure 2 is an enlarged view showing one face of an elsatic fabricembodying my invention.

Figure 3 is a View showing the opposite face of the fabric shown in Fig.2.

Figure 4 is a view showing the outline of a piece of fabric produced inaccordance with my invention and fashioned into a particular shape,showing by dot-and-dash lines the outline of certain regions wherein thecharacteristics ofthe knitted threads differ from the characteristics ofthe knitted threads of other regions.

Figure 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4:, showing a piece of fabricfashioned into a difierent shape.

Referring to the drawings, the fabric comprises knitted threads a and band elastic filling strands c.

the line wa2 in Fig. 2 and on the left hand side of the line in Fig. 3is wider than that portion of the fabric which is on the left hand sideof the line a2w in Fig. 2 and on the right hand side of the line in Fig.3; that is to say, the character of the stitches of the knitted threadsa and b on one side of the line wa: differs from the character of thestitches on the other side of the line, so that in the production of thefabric the knitted threads a'and b may be caused to maintain the elasticstrands 0 in greater spaced relation on one side of the line wm than onthe other side thereof, and hold the elastic strands c in closerrelation to one another on one side of the line wm than on the otherside thereof.

Each knitted thread a passes between two adjacent elastic strands 0 tothe respective faces of the fabric and has loops 1 formed therein on theface of the fabric shown in Fig. 2 and has loops 2 formed therein on theface of the fabric shown in Fig.3.

Each knitted thread 6 passes between two adjacent elastic strands in thewide portion of the fabric to the respective faces thereof and has loops3 formed therein on the face of the fabric shown in Fig. 2 in both thewide and narrow portionsthereof and has loops 4 formed therein on theface of the fabric shown in Fig. 3 in only the wide portion of thefabric.

The loops 1 of the threads 2 embrace the loops 3 of the threads I) andthe loops 3 of the threads I) embrace the loops 1 of the threads 2 andform chains of loops or wales which ex-.

tend transversely of the elastic strands a on the face of the fabricshown in Fig. 3.

The loops 2 of each thread a embraces the loops 2 of the next succeedingthread a and form chains of loops or wales which extend transversely ofthe elastic strands c on the face of the fabric shown in Fig. 3.

Those portions of the threads I) which connect each two adjacent loops 3in the wide portion of the fabric extend between two adjacent elasticstrands 0 from the face of the preceding thread a inthe chains of loopsor wales in the wide portion of the face of the fabric shown in Fig. 3;and those portions 5 of the threads I) which connect each two adjacentloops 3 in the narrow portion of the fabric extend between the adjacentloops 3 without forming any loops which extend to and embrace loops inthe chains or wales on the face of the fabric shown in Fig. 3.

The loops 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the threads a and b I embracing one another,as above described, form enclosures through which the elastic strands cextend and by means of which the elastic strands are retained within thefabric, as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

By knitting the threads which confine the elastic strands so that theloops of the knitted threads which embrace other loops thereof are morenumerous in the wide portion-of the fabric than in the narrow portionthereof, I am enabled to produce on a straight knitting machine a stripof fabric of any desired shape having a wide portion or portions merginginto a narrower portion or portions.

In Fig. 1 of the drawings I have shown diagrammatically a strip offashioned elastic fabric produced in accordance with my invention andhaving wide end portions mergin into the narrower central portion. In

this figure I have indicated the elastic strands at a which extendcontinuously from end to end of the strip of fabric. These strands areinserted into the fabric during the production thereof and they areformed of one continuone strand which extends back and forth from end toend of the fabric, beginning at one longitudinal edge portion thereofand ending I at the other, as is well known in this art.

In the production of the strip of fabric fashioned as shown in Fig. 1,the knitted threads in the central portion of the fabric surrounded orenclosed by the dot-and-dash lines shown in Fig. 1, are knitted togetherin the manner shown at the left hand side of the line wm in Fig. 2 andat the right hand side of the line art-m in Fig. 3, and the knittedthreads in the portion of the fabric outside of the central portionenclosed by the dot-and-- I dash lines are knitted together in themanner shown at the right hand side of the line w-m in Fig. 2 and at theleft hand side of the line in Fig. 3.

By distributing the areas of the two forms of knitting shown on therespective sides of the line w-a: in Figs. 2 and 3 over different placesin producing strips of fabric in accordance with my invention variouslyshaped or fashioned pieces of fabric may be produced.

For example, pieces of fabric fashioned as shown in Figs. 4 and 5 may beproduced. The piece shown in Fig. 4 may be used as the body piece of abrassiere and the piece shown in Fig. 5 may be used as the body piece ofan abdominal belt or supporter.

In producing the piece'of fabric shown in Fig. 4, the knitted threads inthe two areas indicated at A and B and enclosed by the dot-and-dashlines, are knitted together in the manner shown at the right hand sideof the line w-zv in Fig. 2 and at the left hand side of the line wa;' inFig. 3, and the knitted threads in the portions outside of the areas Aand B are knitted together in the manner shown at the left hand side ofthe line m-w in Fig. 2 and at the right hand side of the line a200 ofFig. 3.

In producing the piece of fabric shown in Fig. 5, the knitted threads inthe area indicated C and enclosed by the dot-and-dash lines, are knittedtogether in the manner shown at the right hand side of the line az-a: inFig. 2 and at the left hand side of the line m-w in Fig. 3, and theknitted threads in the portions outside of the area 0 are knittedtogether in the manner shown at the left hand side of the line w-a2 inFig. 2 and at the right hand side of the lines 22-00 in Fig. 3.

I claim as my invention:

1. A fashioned elastic fabric having a wide portion merging into anarrower portion longitudinally of the fabric and comprisinglongitudinally extending elastic strands and knitted threads, eachelastic strand extending without interruption throughout the length ofthe fabric, each knitted thread forming loops which embrace loops ofother threads and thereby fermenclosures through which the elasticstrands extend, and the said loops which form the enclosures for theelastic strands in the wide portion of the fabric being more numerousthan the said loops which form the enclosures for the elastic strands inthe narrower portion of the fabric.

2. A fashioned elastic fabric having a wide portion merging into anarrower por tion longitudinallyof the fabric and comprisinglongitudinally extending elastic strands and knitted threads, eachelastic strand extending without interruption throughout the length ofthe fabric, each knitted thread forming loops which embrace loops ofother threads and thereby form enclosures through which the elasticstrands extend, certain of said loops being embraced by two loops of twoother threads at certain places in the fabric, certain of said loopsbeing embraced by but one loop of another thread at certain other placesin the fabric, and the last named places being more numerous in the saidnarrower portion of the fabric than in the said wide portion thereof.

3. A fashioned elastic fabric having a wide portion merging into anarrower portion longitudinally of the fabric and com prisinglongitudinally extending elastic strands and knitted threads enclosingthe elastic strands within the fabric, each knitted thread forming loopswhich enclose loops of other threads, and the said loops of certain ofsaid threads being more numerous in the wide portion of the fabric thanin the narrower portion thereof and maintaining the elastic strands ingreater spaced relation in the wide portion of the fabric than in thenarrower portion thereof.

4. A fashioned elastic fabric having a wide portion merging into anarrower portion longit-udinally of the fabric and comprisinglongitudinally extending elastic strands and knitted threads enclosingand confining the elastic strands Within the fabric, each knitted threadforming loops which enclose the loops of other threads on the respectivefaces of the fabric, the said loops being more numerous on one face ofthe narrower portion of the fabric than on the opposite face thereof,and

the said loops of certain of said threads be-.

ing more numerous in the wide portion of the fabric than in the narrowerportion thereof and maintaining the elastic strands in greater spacedrelation in the wide portion of the fabric than in the narrower portionthereof.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

WILLIAM J. FOX.

